Maryland's All-Classical Music Station
Adult amateur musicians will learn and play music side-by-side with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra this coming June. BSO English horn Jane Marvine and returning Academy participant Tim Topoleski talked with me about what makes playing side by side so special.
Bosnian guitarist Denis Azabagic will perform a recital tonight at 8:00 at the BMA, and he was good enough to chat with me about it!
Aside from devoting an entire hour to birthday tenor, conductor, and impresario Plácido Domingo, I want to blog about one soul recording. Maestro Domingo was born 71 years ago today in Spain. His parents, zarzuela singers, something like Spanish operetta singers, in the late 1940’s moved to Mexico and formed their own zarzuela company. Domingo spent a good portion of his life in Mexico City where he graduated from the Conservatory there.
Of the 100 complete opera recordings under his belt, not to mention compilations of duets and arias, my favorite Domingo recording is, De Mi Alma Latina. He does indeed deliver Latin American standards from his heart and soul in lush, beautiful arrangements. Songs by composers like Agustin Lara once sung by Los Panchos or José José could easily sound cliché or corny today; however, with the voice and authentic delivery of Maestro Domingo, these Latin American gems come to light in a new and delicious way. On this cold, winter night I think it’s time to sit by the fire, preferably with a lover, for a noche de ronda.
Composer John Rutter has a way with music and words. Rutter’s description of his Magnificat is delightful and compelling as is the work itself. Though the Magnificat is not necessarily Christmas music, its perfectly suited to the season. I hope it warms your heart and mind on tonight’s Vocalise!
The last thing Music Director Edward Polochick did after his performance of Messiah was hold up Handel’s great score. What a composer! What a score! What a performance by Concert Artists of Baltimore Symphonic Chorale and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra lead by Ed Polochick!
Concert Artists of Baltimore have performed Messiah every year now for about 30 years. Last night’s performance felt as though it was the first time and yet as if it had been performed forever by Concert Artists and the BSO. It felt fresh yet deliciously comfortable and suede worn. The chorus was spectacular and beautifully nuanced, the orchestra seemed energetic and fit and each of the soloists was a stand out and just right to sing Handel’s Messiah.
Tenor, Nicholas Phan gave a thoughtful performance with a combination of a nice voice and great diction. Soprano, Karen Clift delivered some uplifting high notes within a beautifully subtle overall performance. Baritone, Stephen Powell’s The Trumpet Shall Sound blew me away in the power of his voice and dramatic performance. Speaking of drama, mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó evoked terror one moment then heart ache the next. Of all the singers she was the most compelling to me. There was something about her articulation and phrasing that moved me.
A great performance of a familiar work like Handel’s Messiah can sometimes joggle my brain and illuminate something that had never occurred to me. For instance where did Handel get all the great biblical texts? The English scholar and arts patron, Charles Jennens put together texts for a number of compositions by Handel including Saul, Israel in Egypt, L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, Belshazzar and Messiah. Clever man! Clever Handel for joining the texts together with his great music as if both were inextricably bound together.
Yes, I love that Handel’s Messiah is a Christmas and Easter tradition to be counted upon, that it’s so familiar and to stand for the Hallelujah Chorus; but it’s even more special when that great oratorio is given a performance like last night’s. Halleluja!
How I love this cartoon of Hector Berlioz conducting the kitchen sink, canons and who knows what else! He was known for big hair and humongous orchestras.
Having said that, the Te Deum by Berlioz, big by some standards, doesn’t employ the usual gigantic forces. It’s still big enough with the orchestra successfully competing with the pipe organ and vice versa.
This was a piece of music my mother played a lot when I was a child, and it brings back happy memories.
It’s hard to believe it was 8 years ago that the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Yuri Temirkanov, performed Alexander Nevsky accompanying the 1938 film. As I recall it was a cold November night as I made my way to the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. I remember it being cold as there was a long line of people waiting to get tickets that trailed all the way outside the building, and you know who was last in line. I hadn’t expected Alexander Nevsky to draw such a large crowd and one that contained so many different age groups. Young, old and in between were all there.
I was fortunate enough to have a seat in a box above the orchestra where I could see everything from the film close up to the players to Temirkanov conducting and turning the pages of the score. It was exciting! The whole day after the concert I spent reading about this man called Alexander Nevsky while listening to the music by Prokofiev on repeat. Every time I hear the Cantata based on the film music, the memories of a cold November night spent highly entertained and moved at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall come dashing back full speed.
What a pleasure to bring Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky to Vocalise!
For a variety of reasons Autumn is my favorite season, especially here in Maryland. As the trees change color and the sunset shows off muted pinks and amber I’m constantly amazed by the light show. The Autumn leaves punctuate the season for me. Their smells and colors are rich with the season and a great comfort.
I tend to associate certain pieces of music with this season which remind me of Autumn leaves. Like the famous album leaf, Fur Elise by Beethoven, my Autumn leaves are fairly short but not restricted to the piano. Here is a list of my current 10 favorites:
1. Gnossiennes By Satie are 6-7 piano pieces that are reminiscent of Satie’s Gymnopedies in their personal and appealing nature. These meditative sounding leaves take you to a quiet place within yourself.
2. Simple Gifts, one of Aaron Copland’s Old American Songs reminds me of Thanksgiving and gratitude.
3. Telemann’s Viola Concerto in G Major. Like the colors of Autumn, the viola is warm and muted. Telemann’s Concerto suits the viola and this season perfectly.
4. The fourth and final movement of Respighi’s Church Windows, Saint Gregory the Great. There is anticipation of the climax in the movement that reminds me of childhood excitement and fantasy waiting for Christmas in November.
5. The Largo from Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9, From the New World. Dvorak wrote the symphony while living in the United States. The largo was turned into a song called Goin’ Home by one of Dvorak’s American students, William Arms Fisher.
6. Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus by Vaughan Williams reminds me of a warm quilt.
7. Virgil Thomson’s Autumn Concertino for harp, strings, and percussion. Yes, the title strikes a chord with me but so does the music.
8. Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss. This is the long one on the list and by no means and album leaf. Finished in 1948, this was some of the last music written by the 84 year old Strauss. Every time I hear this composition it’s as moving and new as an Autumn Sunset.
9. Night Ride and Sunrise by Jean Sibelius is an evocative symphonic poem where a person is riding in the forest in time to meet the dawn.
10. Autumn in all its wine loving, shining and frolicking glory from The Seasons Ballet by Glazunov illuminates exactly how I feel about this most wonderful time of year.
Though I am most grateful to Jonathan Palevsky for filling in on Vocalise, I also secretly know that he loves doing so. Why wouldn’t he? It’s a blast of a show to host! He also likes to pick a theme such as sickness, death or love. Last Saturday when Jonathan filled in for me, he played English music. He chose English, pastoral music or as I’ve heard it called, the English Cow Patch School of Music. 20th century romantic George Butterworth’s songs from A Shropshire Lad are a perfect example of this type of fare and so is Robert Johnson’s (not the bluesman, but the the Renaissance composer) Woods, Rocks and Mountains.
My mother’s favorite recording of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana is the 1960 performance with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. She fancies tenor Rudolf Petrak’s roasting swan.
As a five year old this album 
cover elicited delicious terror in me and so did the music! As it played, I studied the cover shivering at the thought of what ever seemed to be going on. I had no clue. My mother never spoke of roasting swans or of debauchery. She did try to explain that this contemporary piece of music was based on medieval poems written by the Goliard poets who wandered the countryside singing, writing and entertaining for food. I knew she was hiding something and that I would have to grow up before I could learn what all of this gruesomeness was all about.
Lo and behold, my mother was right even though she left some things out of her explanation that would not have been appropriate for a five year old. As an adult, I am less terrified but still riveted by the music and always curious to hear other recordings of Carmina Burana. Tonight we’re in for a treat with a 2007 performance featuring Marin Alsop, she really rocks 20th century music, and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.